Marty Zide is the director of the Midwest Messianic Center. As a Jew he placed his trust in Jesus as his Messiah in December of 1971.

Marty grew up in a reformed Jewish home. He compared reformed Judaism to the Sadducees of Christ's day who were the liberal sect of Judaism. He went to temple two days a year with his parents not attending at all because of their work. They did, however, celebrate Passover and Hanukkah.

In April 1971 Marty received his orders to report for service in the Army Reserves and participated for 4 months in active duty in Kentucky. At the same time, his two close friends, one Gentile and one Jewish, went to California for the summer and ended up becoming followers of Christ.

The plan was that when they came back from California and he left the Reserves, the three of them were going to move to Columbia, Missouri, go to school and rent an apartment. That's exactly what happened. As Marty soon found out, living with two new Christian believers meant he'd become a target as he admitted to being pummeled with the gospel.

Marty's attention was drawn to the changes that were taking place in the lives of his two friends. When questioned, they would point to the fact that they were followers of Jesus so they just didn't do certain things anymore.

This lead Marty to begin reading the Bible beginning with Matthew. He discovered that the picture of Jesus he had in his mind was very different from the one described in the Bible. That brought about conviction and the eventual understanding of his need for Jesus as the Messiah in December of '71.

Review this Crosstalk and find out how you can benefit from Marty's experience. You'll hear about effective portions from Scripture that can be shared and other tips so you can communicate the marvelous love of Christ to Jewish people that God places in your life.